55.
“You trust that guy?” Jinhyeon asked with an incredulous expression, but Yu Jin nodded.
“I do.”
“How long have you known him? Didn’t you just meet him today?”
“That’s right. I just met him.”
Jinhyeon’s expression became strange upon hearing Yu Jin’s words. He pinched Yu Jin’s nose with his fingers and shook it lightly.
“What are you doing!”
When Yu Jin burst out in anger, Jinhyeon continued as if advising him.
“You shouldn’t trust people so easily. Especially after what you’ve been through recently.”
“I’m not trusting him easily.”
“Yes, you are. You’re giving everything away just because he looks a bit sincere.”
“What did I give away!”
“Didn’t you say you’d make that guy a knight?”
His voice was full of spite. Yu Jin barely escaped from Jinhyeon and covered his nose with his hand. He had pinched it so hard that his nose was stinging.
“So what! He’s a person worthy of trust.”
He’s your future subordinate, you idiot!
Yu Jin had planned to nurture Blando and hand him over to Jinhyeon intact, but he was annoyed that Jinhyeon was being so spiteful about it. During their confrontation, Jinhyeon was the first to raise his hand in surrender.
“Let’s go back and continue this conversation.”
Indeed, this place wasn’t suitable to continue their discussion.
“Alright.”
As Yu Jin nodded, Jinhyeon approached and lifted him up.
“I can walk on my own.”
Although he voiced his complaints, Jinhyeon didn’t budge. Yu Jin was a grown man, so he couldn’t understand why Jinhyeon kept lifting him up so easily. It hurt his pride a bit to be lifted so lightly.
“I really should gain some weight.”
As Yu Jin grumbled, Jinhyeon replied with a small laugh.
“That would be good. You’re too skinny now.”
While saying this, he subtly moved his hands holding Yu Jin and started to grope him. Yu Jin was shocked but endured it, fearing he might fall to the ground if he struggled here.
“Other people can see!”
Even when he whispered in his ear, all he got in return was laughter.
‘He’s really annoying!’
What frustrated him most was that he couldn’t do anything about how annoying Jinhyeon was. He wanted to pull his hair out, but fearing retaliation later, Yu Jin regretfully turned his gaze away.
Even after getting into the carriage, Jinhyeon didn’t leave Yu Jin alone. He sat right next to him and kept fiddling with his hands, to the point of annoyance. Weren’t we just fighting?
Yu Jin looked at Jinhyeon with half-closed eyes.
“What, are you trying to seduce me?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yeah, right.”
Jinhyeon pulled Yu Jin into an embrace with a sly smile. His chest, filled with muscle, was still firm.
“Yu Jin.”
The voice calling his name was affectionate. Recently, Jinhyeon had been showing various sides of himself to Yu Jin. Sometimes it made Yu Jin wonder if he had always been like this. Even though he was someone who would leave eventually, someone who would have others by his side.
Yu Jin pressed down on his fluttering chest with his hand.
No. That’s not it. He shouldn’t waver here. As he tried to calm his heart, Jinhyeon continued speaking.
“I don’t know anything unless you tell me. You must have had a reason for trusting this Blando guy too. You have abilities that I don’t know about.”
Yu Jin had expected a more childish argument, but that wasn’t the case.
“I know that, but I’m still anxious.”
“…Why?”
“Because I don’t think your ability is perfect.”
Jinhyeon had accurately grasped Yu Jin’s weakness. Although he could deal with upcoming events because he knew the content of the novel, he couldn’t do anything about unknown situations that might arise.
“So if it’s okay, rely on me a bit more.”
His confident smile was dazzling. So Yu Jin couldn’t help but smile back.
As soon as Yu Jin arrived at the mansion, Keith and Haruna, who had been waiting, rushed out.
“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”
It was Jinhyeon who arrogantly answered Haruna’s question.
“As if I’d let him get hurt when I’m around.”
“At least you’re useful for something.”
Keith responded to Jinhyeon’s words. It seemed like those two would never get along. How could they fight every time they met? Yu Jin smiled faintly and moved his steps along with Haruna. Naturally, Jinhyeon and Keith followed.
Upon reaching the office, Yu Jin recounted what had happened with Blando.
“You’re going to create a knightly order?”
Haruna showed more interest in this than in the success of bringing Blando in. It couldn’t be helped. Until now, Yu Jin hadn’t made any overt attempts to build up his forces.
“Is it too much?”
“No. Creating a knightly order itself should be manageable somehow. But I’m not sure how the other siblings remaining in Lucid will react if you create one.”
Haruna accurately pointed out the problem. From the moment Yu Jin ran away from the main house, he had essentially given up his position as successor. Yet the remaining siblings were still wary of Yu Jin, solely because his mother had been loved by the family head.
‘I’m not important to that man.’
The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth. As he pondered what to do now, Keith spoke up.
“I think it’ll be fine. The eldest thinks he’s the definite successor so he won’t move, and I heard the second son is laying low because of recent events.”
“The second son… you mean Ahmed?”
He decided to omit the word “brother”. Such a person didn’t deserve to be called brother. What kind of brother pushes his younger sibling into danger?
“Yes. Apparently, he was scolded by the family head because of this incident.”
Yu Jin’s expression became strange upon hearing this, but only for a moment.
“Well, given what happened to the third son of Granadan, and knowing Ahmed was involved, he must have said something.”
Yu Jin didn’t think the family head had warned Ahmed for his sake. He probably just scolded Ahmed for damaging the family’s reputation. But wait, isn’t the situation turning out okay?
If the first and second sons don’t move, there’s no one to interfere with creating a knightly order. The other siblings didn’t like Yu Jin either, but besides them, there was no one vicious enough to come and harass him after he’d become independent.
“Then if it’s okay to create a knightly order, shall we start by naming it?”
Haruna called out in a bright voice, as if trying to change the atmosphere.
“I want to come up with a name that sounds strong and cool.”
In response to Yu Jin’s words, Haruna was the first to suggest a name.
“How about the Steel Knights?”
“That’s too common. Every country probably has at least one knightly order with that name.”
“Then what about you? Do you have any ideas?”
“Wouldn’t it be good to include ‘dragon’?”
“That’s probably in every country too. If we count colors, there might be even more.”
Like true twins. The words coming out of Keith and Haruna’s mouths were similar. Watching their bickering, Yu Jin quietly asked Jinhyeon, who was lost in thought.
“Don’t you have any name ideas?”
“…How about Haechi? What do you think of Haechi?”
An imaginary animal that judges right and wrong. An auspicious beast strong against fire that catches and punishes bad guys. It was an animal that people living in the Dragon Continent would know about, but Yu Jin was drawn to the name.
“I like it.”
At Yu Jin’s words, Keith and Haruna turned to look at him.
“What’s a Haechi?”
“You like that?”
In response to their immediate questions, Yu Jin calmly explained about the Haechi.
“Now that I think about it, I think I heard that there was such a spiritual animal in the Dragon Continent. I had forgotten because it was so long ago.”
“The meaning doesn’t sound bad.”
“Good. Then the name of the knightly order is decided! Now, the next thing we need to discuss is…”
“Is what?”
“How can we make more money?”
At Yu Jin’s words, Haruna nodded, tapping her finger on the table.
“Well, it will take a lot of money to properly raise a knightly order. And considering our future plans, we need to expand the guild too.”
“The question is how to expand it.”
At Keith’s words, Haruna furrowed her brow.
“If we’re talking about something that could bring in more profit right away, the only thing that comes to mind is shipping.”
Currently, Yu Jin’s guild was only active in part of the continent. To gain more profit from here, they needed to increase the items they dealt with and expand their area of activity. And among these, the method that could bring the biggest profit was trade with other continents.
“But while that’s good if it succeeds, we’d be ruined if it fails.”
Haruna nodded at Jinhyeon’s point.
“Yes, that’s the problem.”
If a ship successfully crosses the sea, they’ll make a lot of money, but if it encounters monsters or has an accident and sinks, they’ll suffer enormous losses. Knowing this, Yu Jin racked his brains but couldn’t come up with anything.
Others say that when they fall into another world, they make soap or clothes and earn a lot of money. But here, most common items already existed, and Yu Jin didn’t know enough about fashion to introduce new styles.
“How about opening a department store?”
“What?”
“I’ve noticed there aren’t many stores here that gather various products in one place. Even when there are, they only have similar types of items.”
Come to think of it, that’s right. This world didn’t have department stores.
